Z and Khatuyeva v Russia

In December 2004 Mr Yanayev, a resident of Vladikavkaz in North Ossetia, passed through security controls at Beslan airport in North Ossetia to board a flight. While awaiting departure, he was apprehended by two armed men wearing camouflage uniforms who took him away from the airport to an unknown location. He has not been seen since. The applicants (his wife and sister) repeatedly appealed for information on Mr Yanayev, including to the North Ossetian Ministry of the Interior, the General Prosecutor’s Office, and the civil and military prosecutors’ offices. A criminal investigation concerning the abduction was opened in February 2005 by the Vladikavkaz transport prosecutor’s office, and later transferred to the military prosecutor’s office of the Northern Caucasus military circuit. At the time of the judgment by the ECtHR, the investigation into the disappearance of Mr Yanayev remained pending. No progress had been made in establishing his fate or identifying his alleged kidnappers. Further, in the course of the investigation the applicants were repeatedly denied access to the case files.

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